PISCATAWAY, N.J. -
Led by junior Mike Crampton (Kinnelon, N.J.), the Air Force lacrosse team picked up an 11-9 victory over Rutgers Saturday afternoon at the RU Stadium Complex.

Crampton registered three goals and an assist to push the Falcons to their first victory over the Scarlet Knights since 1995. Meanwhile, Keith Dreyer (So., Malvern, Pa.) added a goal and two assists.

Rutgers (1-1) notched the first goal of the game, just over a minute and a half into the opening period. However, Air Force (2-1) responded with four straight scores, including back-to-back tallies from Crampton and the first career goal from freshman Brenden Coleman (Doylestown, Pa.) to take a 4-1 advantage with 3:21 left in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the Scarlet Knights got back on the board with three seconds on the clock to bring the score to 4-2 at the end of the opening stanza.

The Falcons added goals from Marcus Walker (Jr., Denver, Colo.) and Crampton to push their margin to four goals, but Rutgers closed the first half with a pair of scores in the final 90 seconds. The Scarlet Knights continued their comeback in the third period, tallying the first two goals of the quarter to tie the score at 6-6 with 12:44 on the clock. Air Force answered with the next two scores, getting goals from Kyle Cassady (Jr., Upper Arlington, Ohio) and Christopher Allen (Fr., Hillsborough, N.J.) to take an 8-6 advantage into the final period.

Rutgers again battled back, notching three of the first four scores in the fourth quarter to tie the contest at 9-9 with 9:09 remaining. However, the Scarlet Knights were unable to get back on the board, while Tommy McKee (Jr., Holt., Mich.) and Dreyer both found the back of the net to give the Falcons the two-point win.

The Falcons outshot the Scarlet Knights, 48-29, for the game and committed just 11 turnovers, compared to 22 for Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights had a slight advantage on face-offs, winning 14-of-24 draws for the game, while goalkeeper Kris Alleyne had an outstanding showing for Rutgers, recording 19 saves in just over 56 minutes of action.

"I'm proud of our team--we got great effort on both sides of the field today," said head coach Eric Seremet. "Rutgers was a very talented team and we showed resilience when Rutgers made a run. Our young guys need to keep building from the experience."

Air Force is back in action next weekend, Feb. 23-24, when it takes part in the DU Face-off Classic, hosted by the University of Denver. The Falcons will take on Canisius in the first game of the weekend, while facing Lehigh on Sunday. Both games are slated to begin at 11:00 a.m. at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.